BioWare/Pandemic Acquisition Q&A #1

While nobody at BioWare was involved with the Q&A, it's worth noting that Gamasutra was able to quiz Pandemic Studios' Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman, and Greg Borrud about EA's acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic.
Q: Do you feel that your way of running the studio might change? Are you worried about changes under EA management? Or are you expecting things to continue as they were?

Greg Borrud: No, absolutely. We kind of pride ourselves on our independence for the last couple years, and we definitely want that to continue. And by all signs, that will continue as we move forward.

Nothing is changing internally in terms of management, nothing is changing in terms of the way we develop games, the kind of games we want to develop, our core pillars of building big brands and having event launches, and attracting the best talent in the industry. Those have been kind of core to who we are at Pandemic for years, and we think that actually EA allows us to take that to the next level.

JR: That's why they're partnering with us. That's how they ascribe value to us. They want us to continue to do what we're doing but grow and get even more support from their organization to continue on that path.

GB: We really do see our [company] as hopefully a really strong label within the larger EA organization. We're being brought in to really fill out their action-adventure category. And we think that compliments their strengths in all the other genres. And we think we can really help push their business forward by giving them all the great products in development right now.

It's inevitable. EA needs a return on their $860 million investment, which means that changes will occur at both studios to make that happen. It may not happen immediately, but give it a year or two.